History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 37

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728

USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 37
USA > Ohio > Belmont County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 37

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

*Penn. Arch., vol. 5, p. 445

+Penna. Archives, vol. v. p. 448.

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HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

The unfortunate circumstance of the killing of one of Captain Hall's men, which happened the next day, and led them to wreak their vengeance on the unoffending chief and his son, are also fully stated in Capt. Stuart's narrative, in a preceding chapter. It is said that when the interpreter's wife, who had taken quite an interest in the captives, ran in to apprise them of their danger, she told them that Ellinipsico was charged with having brought the Indians who had killed the soldier. "This he positively denied, averring that he came alone, and only to learn something of his father's fate. By this time Capt. Hall and his men had arrived within hearing, and Ellinipsico appeared much agitated. His father turned to him, encourag- ing him to meet his fate composedly, saying, 'My son, the Great Spirit has seen fit that we should die together, and has sent you here to that end. It is his will, and let us submit; it is all for the best.' And, turning to meet his murderers at the door, received seven bullets in his body, and fell without a groan."

"Thus perished the mighty Cornstalk, Sachem of the Shaw- anees, and king of the Northern Confederacy in 1774: a chief remarkable for many great and good qualities. He was dis- posed to be at all times the friend of the white man; as he ever was, the advocate of honorable peace. But when his country's wrongs 'called aloud to battle,' he became the thunderbolt of war, and made her oppressors feel the weight of his uplifted arm. He sought not to pluck the scalp from the head of the innocent, nor to wage war against the unprotected and defence- less; choosing rather to encounter his enemies, girded for battle, and in open conflict. His noble bearing, his generous and dis- interested attachment to the colonies, when the thunder of British cannon was reverberating through the land-his anxiety to preserve the frontier of Virginia from desolation and death (the object of his visit to Point Pleasant)-all con- spired to win for him the esteem and respect of others; while the untimely and perfidious manner of his death, caused a deep and lasting regret to pervade the bosoms, even of those who were enemies to his nation; and excited the just indigna- tion of all, towards his inhuman and barbarous murderers. When the father fell, Ellinipsico continued still and passive, not even raising himself from his seat which he had occupied before receiving notice of impending danger. He met death in that position with the utmost composure and calmness. The trepidation which at first scized upon him, was of but mo- mentary duration, and was succeeded by a most dignified and stoical sedateness."*

The young Red Hawk and his companion were also mur- dered with the utmost barbarity and cruelty.

A few days after this outrage General Hand arrived from Fort Pitt without an army or provisions for those who were enlisted and awaiting his arrival. It was then determed to abandon the expedition; and the volunteers returned to their homes.

The killing of Cornstalk was a fearful decd and brought a fearful retribution on those who were in no wise responsible for it. It not only broke the last link which held the Shaw- anees back from the Confederate tribes, but whetted their appe- tite for blood, and gave to their vengeance the semblance of a virtue.

IMPENDING HOSTILITIES.

From this time forth, the inhabitants of the border lived in constant peril. The foes, whom they were expecting every day to encounter, were savages, whose known mode of warfare was most barbarous and cruel. Cherishing an hereditary sense of injury against the white race; despoiled of their lands; driven backward by the advancing emigration; they had now the added wrong, to avenge, of slaughtered kindred, and chieftains, who had fallen in the struggle to repel the invasion of their homes. Having once entered into the fray, the sav- ages, secmed, like the tiger, to have a fiercer thirst for blood, the more they were able to glut their appetite; and now that they were leagued with Great Britain, would be enabled more fully and effectually to gratify their hatred, by deeds of direst cruelty.

According to a very careful, and doubtless, very accurate esti- mate of Col. Morgan's, the number of warriors in the different tribes, who could at any time, within a few weeks, be assembled to fall upon the frontiers, was about ten thousand and sixty; and when the comparative feebleness of the settlements, along the border, is remembered, and their wide separation from each other, it seems a marvel that any of the settlers should have remained to face what would appear a certain destruction.

At this time the only places where the inhabitants could find refuge, besides private forts and block-houses, were at Fort Pitt, Redstone, Wheeling and Point Pleasant. In the imme- diate vicinity of Wheeling, there were block houses at Beach Bottom, Cross Creek and Grave Creek. There was also a small stockade on Short Creek called Fort Van Metre, sometimes styled the Court House Fort, from the circumstance that the first civil court was held in it after the organization of Ohio county. It was commanded at this time (1777) and subse- quently, by Maj. Samuel McColloch, so famous in all our border annals, for conspicuous bravery and ability as an Indian fighter and scout. But of all these defences, Fort Henry was the only military work, on this part of the frontier, considered tenable in open war.

The information derived from Cornstalk of the extensive preparations making by the Indians for war, and the proba- bility of its early commencement, led to the immediate adop- tion of such measures as should prevent its success. The Government of Virginia issued a proclamation advising the inhabitants to retire into the interior as soon as practicable, and forwarded ammunition to some of the settlements to enable them to defend themselves from the incursions of the savages. Gen. Hand also sent express to different settlements advising their abandonment, and that the inhabitants should seek shel- ter in some neighboring fortress or retire east of the mountains. They were all apprised of the impending danger and the im- practicability of the Government to afford them any effective protection. Some who were unwilling to encounter the horrors of an Indian war, prudently withdrew from the danger, but by far the greater number, who had taken up their abode on the western border, determined to remain, making such prepara- tions to meet the contingency as they best could.

They had not long to wait. As the season advanced the dep- redations of the Indians became more frequent and bold. In the neighborhood of Wheeling some mischief was done about this time by Indians, who were sufficiently wary to avoid dis- covery and punishment. A man named Thomas Ryan was killed in a field some distance from the house, and a negro, at work with him, was taken prisoner and carried off.

"No invasion, however, of that country had been as yet of sufficient importance to induce the people to forsake their homes and go into the forts. Scouting parties were constantly trav- ersing the woods in every direction and so successfully did they observe every avenue to the settlements that the approach of Indians was generally discovered and made known before any evil resulted from it. But in August the whole country bor- dering on the Ohio, from Fort Pitt to Wheeling, became justly alarmed for its fate, and the most serious apprehensions for the safety of its inhabitants were excited in every bosom. Intelli- gence was conveyed to Gen. Hand, at Fort Pitt, by some friendly Indians from the Moravian towns, that a large army of the Northwestern Confederacy had concentrated on the Sandusky river, and were now come as far as those towns, and might soon be expected to strike an awful blow on some of the Ohio river settlements. The Indian force was represented as being so great as to preclude all idea of purchasing safety by open con- flict; and the inhabitants along the river generally retired into forts as soon as they received information of their danger, and made every preparation to repel an assault on them. When this force left the Sandusky upper village and took up their line of march in the direction of Limestone, in Kentucky. that settlement was supposed by some to be the objective point of their attack. They did not, however, remain long in sus- pense as to the point against which the enemy would direct its operations.

Although the Wheeling fort had been erected by the proper authorities of the Government, and was supplied with arms and ammunition from the public arsenal, it was not, at this time, garrisoned, as were the other State forts on the Ohio, by a regular soldiery, but was left to be defended solely by the heroism and bravery of those who might seek shelter within its walls. The settlement around it was flourishing, and had grown with a surprising rapidity, when its situation, and the circumstances of the border generally, are taken into consider- ation. A little village of twenty-five or thirty houses had sprung up, where but a few years before the foot of civilized man had never trod; flocks and herds-evidences of present prosperity and future wealth-ranged in the fields, and the broad and fertile bottom lands covered with bountiful crops ripening in the autumn sun evinced the thrift and prosperity of the people. In the enjoyment of this comparatively pros- perous condition of things the inhabitants little dreamed how quickly these smiling prospects were to be blighted, their future

* Withers' Chronicles.

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HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

hopes blasted, and they deprived of almost the necessaries of life. They were not insensible to the danger which, in time of war, was ever impending over them, but, relying on the vigilanee of their scouts to ascertain and apprise them of its approach, and on the proximity of a fort into which they could retire upon a minute's warning, they did not shut them- selves up within its walls until advised of the immediate neeesity of doing so, from the actual presence of the enemy."*

SIEGE OF FORT HENRY IN 1777.

On the evening of the last day of August Captain Ogle, who with a party of twelve men, had been for several days engaged in watching the paths to the settlement, endeavoring to ascer- tain the approach of danger, came into Wheeling with the as- surance that the enemy were not at hand. He reported, how- ever, that as he was returning from Beech Bottom fort, accom- panied by Abraham Rogers, Joseph Biggs, Robert Lemont and others, he discovered as he neared Wheeling, the appearance of considerable smoke in the atmosphere, in the direction of Grave creek, and conjectured, it might arise from the burning of the block house at that place by the Indians. Col. Shepherd, the commandant,¿ promptly dispatched two men in a canoe down the river to ascertain the facts, and to report if there were any Indians in the neighborhood.

In the course of the night, however, the Indian army, con- sisting of three hundred and eighty-nine warriors, came near to the village, and believing, from the lights in the fort, that the inhabitants were on their guard, and that more might be effected by an ambuscade in the morning, than by an immedi- ate and direct attack, posted themselves advantageously for that purpose. Two lines were formed, at some distance from each other, extending from the river across the point to the creek, with a cornfield to afford them concealment. In the cen- tre between these lines, near a road leading through the field to the fort, and in a situation easily exposing them to observa- tion, six Indians were stationed, for the purpose of decoying within the lines, any force which they might discover and come out to attack them.

The leader of the army had conducted his march with such celerity and caution, that, although there was attached to the fort, and kept in constant service a body of the most trusty, and experienced scouts, that ever figured in border warfare, he managed to elude their observation-deceiving them utterly as to his point of destination-and actually brought his whole force under the walls of Fort Henry before his real design was discovered.

Early in the morning of the 1st of September the commandant, wishing to dispatch expresses to the nearest settlements, sent a man, accompanied by a negro, to bring in some horses which had been turned loose the day before to graze on the bank of the creek. While these men were passing through the cornfield south of the fort they encountered the party of six savages and immediately turned to escape by flight. A single shot brought the white man to the ground, but the negro was permitted to escape to the fort and give the alarm. Captain Samuel Meason, who, with Captain Ogle and some other men, had occupied the fort the preceding night, on learning that there were but six of the enemy, marched with fourteen men to the place where they had been seen. When he came in view of them he led his men briskly forward in pursuit, but suddenly found him- self inclosed by a body of Indians, who, till then, had remained concealed. The Captain rallied his men from the confusion of this unexpected demonstration, and, seeing the impossibility of maintaining a conflict with them, endeavored to retreat with his men to the fort, gallantly taking the lead and hewing his way through the savage ranks. But it was in vain; they were intereepted at every turn and his band literally cut to pieces. One by one these devoted soldiers fell at the crack of the enemy's rifle. Captain Meason, however, and his Sergeant

succeeded in passing the front line, but, being observed by some of the enemy, were pursued and fired at as they began to rise the hill. The Sergeant was so wounded by the ball aimed at him that he fell, unable to get up; but, seeing his Captain pass near without a gun, and so crippled that he moved but slowly in advance of his pursuers, he handed him his own weapon, and calmly surrendered himself to his fate.

Captain Meason had been twice wounded, and was then so en- feebled by the loss of blood and faint from fatigue that he almost despaired of ever reaching the fort; yet he pressed for- ward with all his powers. He was sensible that the Indian who was eagerly pursuing him was quite near, and expecting every instant that the tomahawk would cleave through his skull, he forgot for a while that his gun was yet charged. The recollection of this inspiring him with fresh hopes, he wheeled to fire at his pursuer, but found him so close that he could not bring his gun to bear on him. Having greatly the advantage of ground, he thrust the savage back with his hand. The up- lifted tomahawk descended to the earth with force, and before the Indian could so far regain his footing as to hurl the fatal weapon from his grasp, or rush forward to elose in deadly strug- gle with his antagonist, the ball from Capt. Meason's gun had done its errand, and the savage fell lifeless to the earth. Capt. Meason, from extreme physical exhaustion, was able to proceed only a few paces further, but was fortunate enough to conceal himself in a pile of fallen timber, where he remained unob- served while the Indians continued about the fort.

The critical situation of Capt. Meason becoming known at the fort, from the discharge of the guns and the shrieks of the men, Captain Ogle, with twelve of his scouts, immediately sallied forth for their relief and to cover their retreat. This noble band, eagerly pressing forward for the rescue of their suffering fellow-soldiers, also fell into an ambuscade. Capt. Ogle being some distance in the rear of his men, the Indians, in closing around them, fortunately left him without the circle, and he was able to conceal himself amid some briars in the corner of the fenee, where he lay until the next day. The same fate awaited his men which had befallen Capt. Meason's. Two-thirds of these were slain upon the spot. Of the twenty-six who were led out by these two officers only three escaped death, and two of these were badly wounded-a striking evidence of the fact that the ambuscade was judieiously planned and the expectations of its suecess well founded. Sergeant Jacob Ogle, though mortally wounded, managed to escape into the woods with two soldiers, but died subsequently.

While these things were doing, the inhabitants of the vil- lage were busily employed in removing to the fort, and prepar- ing for its defence. A single glance at the situation of the parties led on by Meason and Ogle, convinced them of the over- whelming force of the Indians, and the impossibility of inain- taining an open contest with them. And so quick had been the happening of the events which have been narrated, that the gates of the fort were securely closed before the Indian army appeared under its walls, to attempt its reduction by storm.

Three men, Rogers, Biggs and Lemon, who had left the fort to join their comrades, met the enemy advancing upon the fort ; the savages were formed in two ranks, in open order, their left flank reaching to the river bank, and their right extending into the woods as far as eye could reach. When the three volunteers were about to enter the gate of the fort, a few random shots were fired at them, and instantly a loud whoop arose on the enemy's left flank, which passed, as if by concert, along the line to the extreme right, filling the welkin with a chorus of the wildest and most startling character.

This salute was responded to by a few well directed rifle shots from the lower block houses, which produced a manifest confu- sion in the ranks of the besiegers. They discontinued their shouting and retired'a few paces, probably to await the coming up of their right flank, which, it would seem, had been directed to make a general sweep of the bottom, and then approach the stockade on the eastern side.

When the right flank came up, and the forces were properly disposed, the commander of the Indians* summoned the garri- son to surrender in the name of his Brittanic Majesty. Ap- pearing at the end window of a house not far from the fort he

*Witbers' Chronicles of Border Warfare. +Appendix A.

#In the absence of any official documents, or contemperaneous letters, or accounts of this siege, we have adopted tbe view of McKiernan. that in the absence of a regular garrison and commandant, Col. Shepherd, who was the county lieutenant, and bad considerable military experience, having served in several campaigns against the Indians, was the one who would naturally, and by virtue of his office, be called upon to assume the command, In the "Chron- icles of Border Warfare," by Mr. Withers, which is the earliest account of this siege and has the merit of being gathered and published in the life time of many of the actors in this event, it is stated that Col. Zane had charge of the de fences and was in command at this siege. There can be no question of Mr. Withers general accuracy and reliability, but he might, in this instance, have confounded this siege with that of 1782 where Col. Zane did command. It is certain, however, that both gentlemen were present in the fort and rendered valiant ser- vice for its defence.

*All the early historians state that the Indians were commanded at this siege by Simon Girty, the notorious white renegade. How this impression arose it cannot now be ascertained -possibly they may have confounded Simon with his brother George Girty, who is said to have been in command of the Indians at the siege of 1782. However this may be, it is now known that Simon Girty, together with Elliott and McKee, and twelve soldiers, deserted from Fort Pitt on 28th March, 1778, and so could not well have been present at the siege of 1777.

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HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

told them that he had come with a large army to escort to Detroit, such of the inhabitants along the frontier, as were willing to accept the terms offered by Governor Hamilton, to those who would renounce the cause of the colonies and attach themselves to the interests of Great Britain; calling upon them to remember their fealty to their sovereign; assuring them of protection, if they would join his standard, and denouncing upon them all the woes which spring from the uncurbed in- dulgence of savage vengeance, if they dared to resist, or fire one gun to the annoyance of his men. He then read to them Gov. Hamilton's proclamation, and told them he could allow only fifteen minutes to consider his proposition. It was enough. In love with liberty, attached to their country, and without faith in his proffered protection, they required but little time to "deliberate, which of the two to choose, slavery or death." Col. Zane replied to him* "that they had consulted their wives and children, and that all were resolved to perish, sooner than place themselves under the protection of a savage army with him at its head, or abjure the cause of liberty and of the colonies.' The commander then represented to them the great force of the Indians; the impossibility that the fort could withstand the assault; the certainty of protection if they acceded to his prop- osition, and the difficulty of restraining the assailants if en- raged and roused to vengeance by opposition and resistance. A shot discharged at him from the fort caused him to withdraw froni the window, and the Indians commenced the assault.

There were then in the fort but thirty-three men, f to defend it against the attack of upwards of three hundred and eighty Indians; and bravely did they maintain their situation against the superior force of the enemy, and all that art and fury could effect to accomplish their destruction. So far, the fortunes of the day had been fearfully against them; two of their best offi- cers, and a large proportion of their original force, were missing. The exact fate of their comrades, was unknown to them, but they had every reason to apprehend that they had been cut to pieces. Still, they were not dismayed-their mothers, sisters, wives and children were assembled around them-they had a sacred charge to protect, and they resolved to fight to the last extremity, and confidently trusted in Heaven for the successful issue of the combat.

When the attack began it was yet quite early in the morn- ing, the sun not having appeared above the summit of Wheeling hill. The day is represented to have been one of surpassing beauty.

Parties of Indians were placed in such of the village houses as commanded a view of the blockhouses; a strong body occu- pied the yard of Col. Ebenezer Zane, about fifty or sixty yards from the fort, using a paling fence as a cover, while the greater part were posted under cover in the edge of the cornfield, to act offensively or serve as a corps of reserve as occasion might re- quire.

The Indians, not entirely concealed from the view of the garrison, kept up a brisk fire for the space of six hours with- out much intermission. The little garrison in spite of its heterogeneous character, was, with scarcely an exception, com- posed of sharp-shooters. Several of them, whose experience in Indian warfare gave them a remarkable degree of coolness and self-possession in the face of danger, infused confidence into the young, and as they never fired at random, their bullets, in most cases, took effect. The Indians, on the contrary, gloated with their previous success, their tomahawks reeking with the blood of Meason's and Ogle's men, and all of them burning with impatience to rush into the fort and complete their work of butchery, discharged their guns against the pickets, the gate, the logs of the block-houses, and every other object that seemed to shelter a white man. Their fire was thus thrown away. At length some of their most daring warriors rushed up close to the block-house, and attempted to make more sure work by firing through the logs; but these reckless savages received from the well directed rifles of the frontiersmen the fearful reward of their termerity. About one o'clock the Indians discon- tinued their fire and fell back against the base of the hill.

About half past two o'clock the Indians put themselves again in motion and advanced to renew the siege. As in the first attack, a portion of their warriors took possession of the cabins contiguous to the fort, while others availed themseves of the cover afforded by Zane's paling fence. A large number posted themselves in and behind a blacksmith shop and stable that stood opposite the northern line of pickets, and another party, probably the strongest of all, stationed themselves under

cover of a worm fence and several large pieces of fallen timber on the south side of the fort. The siege was now reopened from the latter quarter, a strong gang of Indians advancing under cover of some large stumps that stood on the side of the de- clivity below the fort and renewing the combat with loud yells and a brisk fire. The impetuosity of the attack on the south side brought the whole garrison to the two lower block houses, from which they were enabled to pour out a destructive fire upon the enemy in that quarter. While the garrison was thus employed, a party of eighteen or twenty Indians, armed with rails and billets of wood, rushed out of Zane's yard and made an attempt to force open the gate of the fort. Their design was discovered in time to defeat it, but they only abandoned it after five or six of their number had been shot down. Upon the failure of this scheme, the Indians opened a fire upon the fort from all sides, except from that next to the river, which af- forded no shelter to a besieging host. On the north and the east the battle raged most fiercely, for, notwithstanding the strength of the assailants on the south, the unfavorableness of the ground prevented them from prosecuting with much vigor the attack which they had commenced with such fury. The rifles used by the garrison towards evening became so much heated by the continued firing that they were rendered meas- urably useless, and recourse was then had to muskets, a full supply of which was found in the store-house. As darkness set in, the fire of the savages grew weaker, though it was not entirely discontinued until next morning.

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History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 37

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 728

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728